Meet Me @ the Barre!

[Disneyphile]

I did jazz for 15, tap for 12, gymnastics for four, and ballet for six years.

The last four of those tap years were private lessons by the late Maceo Anderson, and under his choreography, I also used to dance on rare occasion with another student of his at the time - Van "The Man" Porter. Maceo was an awesome inspiration and incredible man. During my student years, and a few after he stopped teaching for awhile, he became a very close family friend, and even spent a couple Thanksgivings with us. I fondly remember his dog Tippy, that he'd let me walk as a way to "warm up" before lessons. I hated mundane exercise, so I think that was a bit of a trick to make me walk quickly, since Tippy was a rather large and strong dog with an even larger state of energy. I also remember when my dad helped rebuild the front-end of his studio when a racist vandal threw a brick through the large window right before I showed up for a lesson. I remember Maceo sitting there, saddened, with the cinderblock pieces and the glass strewn everywhere upon our arrival. That was my first firsthand experience at racial bigotry, and it angered me something fierce.

And now, after a 16 year hiatus, I have re-entered the world of jazz, and will soon resume ballet and dabble in ballroom. When Maceo died, my desire to ever pick up tap again kinda went with him, because I don't think any instructor could surpass him.

I'll have to rummage through our old family photo albums and see what I can find that is worth scanning and sharing.